Robert Marren
|image = }}Robert "Razor" Marren (ロバート・マーレン) is a student of the Neo Hope's Peak Academy's third-year class, and a participant of the Killing School Retreat featured in Danganronpa: Serial Bonding. ''His title is the '''Ultimate Percussionist' (超高校レベルドラマー, Chō kōkō reberudoramā, Super High School Level Drummer). History Early Life Razor grew up with a wholehearted love of music for most of his life. When his parents took him to see his cousin's marching band competition in elementary school, he was amazed by the expanse of the group's percussion section and wanted to try drumming himself. He spent hours practicing drums in his basement and began branching out to other percussion instruments he found in his uncle's music store. He joined marching band as soon as he entered high school and moved up to snare and quads before the first semester's end. He and a couple friends formed a short-lived, locally famous garage band around that time, performing at a number of events in the area and even opening for a nationally-renowned indie band. When Razor started preparing to transfer to Hope's Peak, his educational workload increased significantly to catch up to the difference in starting time between the American and Japanese school year. Due to his busy schedule and impending transfer, the group disbanded. Killing School Retreat Appearance Razor has shaggy, light brown hair that reaches a bit above his shoulders. It's similar in length to Masahide's, but a bit poofier. His skin is fairly tan from living in a sunnier environment. There is faint stubble visible on his chin. He wears a pale blue tank top with grey, horizontal stripes near the bottom and black linework of a skull in a marching hat on the back. Additionally, he wears tan bermuda shorts with a pair of white, beat-up drumsticks in the back left pocket, along with a pair of dark grey flip-flops with black straps. He has a spiral of barbed wire tattooed around his left bicep. Personality Razor is a fairly happy person who tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, despite the fact that most of his shirts are sleeveless. He loves the thrill of performing in front of people as much as he loves his home country. He is incredibly patriotic to the point where it starts to get pretty annoying. He mainly enjoys spending time with people who enjoy music and athletics. Talent and Abilities Ultimate Percussionist Razor has had a natural ear for rhythm his entire life. He spent years practicing to play drums before forming a short-lived, though popular, garage band in eighth grade. He won the praise of numerous crowds with his flawless drum solos before winning a national talent competition with a prize of guaranteed entry to Hope's Peak Academy. Superhuman Arm Strength Razor has developed superhuman strength in his arms, as shown by his "pier wrestling" match with Tamaki, he is on a similar level of combat skill to her, though only slightly less efficient due to his less well-rounded capabilities. Superhuman Reflexes Razor has abnormal reaction time, being able to easily react to Tamaki charging at him fast enough to appear blurred to those watching their match. Relationships Monokuma Razor despises Monokuma even more than most of the other campers, particularly after Kan's execution. He vows to find the person controlling the bear and pulverize them, though Monokuma doesn't care or believe he could do so. Tamaki Ozu Razor and Tamaki are each other's closest companions at Camp Zetsubou. The two befriend each other shortly after arrival and become even closer after Kan's execution, having both lost one of their closest friends. The two develop a friendly rivalry with each other as Tamaki continues to challenge him to whatever competitions come to mind, mostly of the athletic variety. He serves as the voice of reason among the two, reigning in Tamaki's antics if her rambunctious nature gets the better of her. Kan Kawabata Razor and Kan befriend each other during the primary investigation of the camp, while inspecting Kan's lab. They sit next to each other during Riku's respect-building exercise, likely intentionally. After Kan's execution, Razor spends the next day grieving, but later returns to his normal disposition since he believes Kan wouldn't want him hung up on it for so long. Trivia * Razor's design, talent, birthday, and personality were all inspired by one of the writer's high school classmates, though slightly altered for the sake of artistic license. * Razor's English voice actor, Michael Jones, is married to Lindsay Jones, who voices Hoshiyo Shimura in the story. * His origin story is a reference to the song Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. ** This is both Razor and his inspiration's favorite song. ** The design on the back of his tank-top in his updated design is meant to reference the cover of the album named for the song. * Razor has dyslexia, though it does not inhibit his ability to read music. ** It did complicate his learning of how to write in Japanese, but thanks to Ayano Okura's tutoring, he managed to become mostly fluent in speaking the language. * Aside from Japanese, Razor also knows a fair amount of Spanish. * Before transferring to Hope's Peak, Razor lived in suburban coastal California. * Outside music, his hobbies include skateboarding and running. * He was on his high school's honor roll before he transferred to Hope's Peak. * Razor is ambidextrous. He was born right-handed. * His favorite bands include My Chemical Romance, Green Day, and Earth, Wind & Fire. * While his talent focuses on percussion instruments, he can also play piano, as the notes carry over from the xylophone and marimba. * Razor got his tattoo a week before leaving for Japan. His parents still don't know about it. * One of his favorite things about living in Japan is the ramen restaurants. He admits their food is much better than cup noodles or the food court equivalent. * He also hadn't seen snow before arriving at Hope's Peak. He barely left his dorm for the entire first winter he spent at the academy aside from going to class. He has since grown more accustomed to it, but still holds several grievances toward winter. * During Chapter 1, it was revealed he was attempting to see how long he could wear the same clothes before anyone noticed, as all their outfits are duplicates. * Razor is the writer's 9th favorite character in the story. Category:Danganronpa: Serial Bonding Characters Category:Music-based Talents Category:Talent: Percussionist